The present invention relates to a detecting system of an open/closed state of a cover equipped to a body of a device, and to an image processing device with the detecting system.
Conventionally, a device such as a facsimile machine having a body and a cover thereof is often provided with a functionality to detect an open/close status of the cover as the cover is configured to be openable and closable. In such a facsimile device, various operations such as scanning an original document and recording an image onto a recording sheet are conducted when the status of the cover is detected and the cover being closed is determined.
For detecting the open/close status of the cover, a switch may be provided inside a body case so that the switch is operated (for example pressed or contacted) by the cover itself or by a component of the same device as the cover is closed (see Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. HEI8-18705, for example). That is, the open/close status of the cover can be detected as the switch is turned on and off as the cover is closed and opened.
An example of a configuration of a detecting system capable of detecting the open/close status of such a cover for a conventional facsimile machine is shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. FIGS. 7 and 8 show a side view of a facsimile machine 100 with a detecting system comprising a cover open/close sensor 141 and an actuator 101, which will be described hereinafter. A cover 203 shown in FIG. 7 is in a fully-closed position, whilst the cover 203 shown in FIG. 8 is opened (uplifted) as the cover 203 is rotated about a rotary shaft 105 at a predetermined angle (for example 6 degrees).
In the facsimile machine 100, the cover 203 is adapted to be openable and closable to a body case 202. As the cover 203 is opened, the cover 203 is rotated about the rotary shaft 105 in a counter-clockwise direction in FIGS. 7 and 8.
The detecting system of the facsimile machine 100 comprises a cover-side shaft 151, which is fixedly connected to the cover 203, and an actuator 101, through which the cover-side shaft 151 is penetrated at one end so that the cover-side shaft 151 can be rotated about the cover-side shaft 151. The detecting system further comprises a case-side shaft 161, which is fixedly connected to the body case 202, and a cover open/close sensor 141, which is turned on and off by a contact surface 103 formed at a lower portion of the actuator 101. The cover open/close sensor 141 is fixedly arranged on a printed circuit board 140.
The cover open/close sensor 141 is provided with a rotatable lever 176, which can be rotated about an axis 175. The rotatable lever 176 rotates about the axis 175 downwardly as the rotatable lever 176 is pressed by the contact surface 103, and resiliently recovers to the original position when the pressure from the contact surface 103 is removed. FIGS. 9A through 9C show a relation between positions of the rotatable lever 176 and an on/off state of the cover open/close sensor 141.
As shown in FIG. 9A, an upper end portion of the rotatable lever 176 is positioned uppermost when no pressing force is applied to the rotatable lever 176. In this position, the cover open/close sensor 141 is in an off-state. When the rotatable lever 176 is pressed downward, the rotatable lever 176 is rotated and shifted downward accordingly. The rotatable lever 176 can be shifted down to a lowermost position shown in FIG. 9B, wherein the cover open/close sensor 141 is turned on. As the rotatable lever 176 is being pressed continuously and reaches to a position shown in FIG. 9C (an upper limit for on-state), the cover open/close sensor 141 is switched on. That is, the cover open/close sensor 141 is turned on when the rotatable lever 141 is in a range from the upper limit and the lowermost position (an on-state range α).
As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the actuator 101 is an arc-shaped elongated plate, wherein a guide hole 102 is formed along curvature of the actuator 101. The case-side shaft 61 is penetrated through the actuator 101 and guided in the guide hole 102.
In the facsimile machine 100 configured as above, when the cover 203 is opened, the cover-side shaft 151, which is connected to the cover 203, is rotated about a rotation axis 105 of the cover 203 along with the cover 203, and the actuator 101 is uplifted along with the cover 203 as well.
The case-side shaft 161, which is fixed to the body case 102, stays steady even when the actuator 101 is uplifted. Therefore, the case-side shaft 161 is guided relatively downward in the guide hole 102 as the actuator 101 is uplifted along with the cover 203.
When the cover 203 is fully closed as shown in FIG. 7, the rotatable lever 176 of the cover open/close sensor 141 is pressed by the contact surface 103 of the actuator 101 and shifted down to a position in the on-state range α.
As the cover 203 is opened and uplifted from the fully-closed position, the contact surface 103 of the actuator 101 is uplifted accordingly as well as the rotatable lever 176 of the cover open/close sensor 141. When the cover 103 is uplifted to a position shown in FIG. 8, which is beyond the upper limit for the on-state shown in FIG. 9C, the cover open/close sensor 141 is turned off.
Thus, in the conventional facsimile machine 100, the open/close status of the cover 203 is detected as the actuator 101 is shifted upward and downward in accordance with the open/close motions of the cover 203.
In the configuration as described above, the positional relation between the contact surface 103 and the rotatable lever 176 of the cover open/close sensor 141 should be constant among a plurality of the facsimile machines 100 of a product line, although the positional relation practically varies among the individual facsimile machines 100 due to various factors such as dimension errors and the like.
As the positional relation of the contact surface 103 and the rotatable lever 176 varies, there may be a case wherein the rotatable lever 176 is pressed substantially downward to switch on the cover open/close sensor 141 (for example in a position in vicinity to the lowermost position of the rotatable lever 176 shown in FIG. 9B) when the cover 203 is closed, whilst there may be another case wherein the rotatable lever 176 is pressed but insufficiently to switch on the cover open/close sensor 141 (for example in a position in vicinity to the upper limit for the on-state shown in FIG. 9C).
In order to compensate the variation, the on-state range α is configured to be wide enough so that the cover open/close sensor 141 can be reliably switched on when the cover 203 is closed regardless of the variation among the individual facsimile machines 100.
With the above configuration, however, the on-state of the cover 203 may not be detected unless the cover 203 is substantially widely opened, and the switch of the cover open/close sensor 141 may not be turned off depending on the variation.
When the facsimile machine 100 is configured to have the rotatable lever 176 that can be pressed down to a position in vicinity to the lowermost position as the cover 203 is closed, the cover 203 is required to be opened widely enough to release the cover open/close switch 41 until the rotatable lever 176 is uplifted above the upper limit for the on-state. In other words, the cover open/close sensor 141 may be turned on even when the cover 203 is being closed but is not fully closed.
In such a case, a user of the facsimile machine 100 may erroneously judge that the cover 203 is fully closed and may attempt to start a scanning operation of an original document with the cover 203 open, although the facsimile machine 100 may not operate correctly and an error such as a feeding error of the original document may occur.